„Black Lives Matter!” (Klasse 9–11)
Einzelmaterial 202
S1
„Black Lives Matter!“ – Die Rassenunruhen in den USA
anhand unterschiedlicher Textsorten erschließen (Klasse 9–11)
V
Ekkehard Sprenger, Preetz
M1
What happened in Ferguson? – Approaching the topic
© Thinkstock/iStock Editorial
The USA’s society still has to deal with prejudice and racism towards African Americans
because of the country’s history of slavery and segregation. Find out which event caused
a new discussion about racism.
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Peaceful protest in New York City on December 6, 2014: Demonstrators are lying
on the floor of Grand Central Terminal to protest the death of Michael Brown.
The shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri
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On 9 August, 2014 Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teenager,
was shot at least six times by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, after
stealing cigarillos at a supermarket. Brown died from the injuries. Before the shooting,
Brown and Wilson had a violent conflict at Wilson’s car. Eyewitnesses don’t agree on
how exactly the shooting happened. Nevertheless, many people argued that Wilson
would not have shot if Brown had been white instead of black.
A nationwide debate about the police’s treatment of African Americans started.
When on 24 November a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Wilson, protests
and demonstrations broke out in Ferguson and in many other cities in the USA.
News teams showed images from the streets which included looting, cars set on fire
and police in riot gear firing gunshots and using tear gas. Though there were also
many peaceful protesters demonstrating in Ferguson’s streets, Governor Jay Nixon
declared a state of emergency.
Although the United States has made great progress to protect civil rights, some
Americans say that the nation has not yet completely succeeded.
Tasks
1. Read the text and note down aspects you find especially tragic or worrying.
2. Discuss the aspects you chose with a partner.
prejudice: das Vorurteil – segregation: die Rassentrennung – 1 unarmed: unbewaffnet – 8 grand
jury: part of the legal system in some states of the US: a group of citizens decides if a case should
be given a trial in court – 8 to indict so.: jmndn. anklagen – 10 to loot: plündern – 11 riot gear: die
Schutzausrüstung – 13 to declare a state of emergency: den Notstand erklären – 14 civil rights:
die Bürgerrechte
83 RAAbits Englisch Mai 2015
„Black Lives Matter!” (Klasse 9–11)
Einzelmaterial 202
S4
M3
V
The Civil Rights Movement – the black fight for equal
treatment
Civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr. said in his famous speech about ending
racism in 1963, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created
equal …’” Find out more about African Americans’ fight for equal treatment in the Civil
Rights Movement.
A. Approaching the text
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The photo shows the Civil Rights Memorial in Richmond, Virginia. Describe and interpret
the sculpture.
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Excerpt from An Illustrated History of the USA (1990) by Bryan O’Callaghan
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The black struggle for equal treatment became known as the Civil Rights Movement. An important
legal turning point came in 1954. In a case called Brown v. Topeka the Supreme Court declared
that segregated schools were illegal and ordered that black children should be allowed to attend
any school as pupils. In September 1957, black children tried to enrol at the previously all white
high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. An angry mob gathered to prevent them. […] So began a long
struggle for equal rights in education. It was still going on more than thirty years later.
Another landmark in the black struggle came on December 1, 1955. A black woman named Rosa
Parks got on a bus in the strictly segregated southern city of Montgomery, Alabama. She took a seat
towards the back of the bus, as blacks were supposed to do. But then white workers and shoppers
filled up the front section of the bus and the driver ordered her to give up her seat. Mrs. Parks
decided that she would not be treated in that way. She refused to move.
Mrs. Parks was arrested. But the black people of Montgomery supported her. […] They started a
campaign to end segregation on buses. Led by a young clergyman named Martin Luther King, they
began to stop using, or “boycott”, the city’s bus services. The boycott went on for a year. Finally, in
November 1956, the Supreme Court declared that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.
Montgomery’s public transport system was desegregated […].
A climax of the Civil Rights Movement came in 1963. On a hot August day 200,000 people,
black and white, took part in a mass demonstration in Washington to demand full racial equality.
In a moving and dramatic speech, Martin Luther King told millions of Americans watching their
televisions all over the country: “I have a dream […]”
83 RAAbits Englisch Mai 2015
„Black Lives Matter!” (Klasse 9–11)
Einzelmaterial 202
S8
M5
V
“The suspect is described as a black male” – stereotypes
in the media
Documentary filmmaker and author Michael Moore made it his task to criticise what is
wrong in the United States today. Part of his critique is about how African Americans are
stereotyped for allegedly committing almost every crime.
A. Approaching the text
“The suspect is described as a black male ...”
2. Exchange your questions with those of another group. Listen
to their questions and try to answer them.
© Thinkstock/Hemera
1. In groups of three, write down as many questions about
the quotation from the text as you can think of. At least one
question should begin with Who, one with Why and one with
What.
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A police sketch of a suspect
Excerpt from Stupid White Men … and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation (2001)
by Michael Moore
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When I turn on the news each night, what do I see again and again? Black men alleged to be
killing, raping, mugging, stabbing, […] looting, rioting, selling drugs, […] having too many babies,
dropping babies from tenement windows, fatherless, motherless, Godless, penniless. “The suspect
is described as a black male ... the suspect is described as a black male ... THE SUSPECT IS
DESCRIBED AS A BLACK MALE ...” No matter what city I’m in, the news is always the same,
the suspect always the same unidentified black male. I’m in Atlanta tonight, and I swear the police
sketch of the black male suspect on TV looks just like the black male suspect I saw on the news last
night in Denver and the night before in L.A. In every sketch he’s frowning, he’s menacing – and
he’s wearing the same knit cap! Is it possible that it’s the same black guy committing every crime
in America?
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I believe we’ve become so used to this image of the black man as predator that we are forever ruined
by this brainwashing. In my first film, Roger & Me, a white woman […] clubs a bunny rabbit to
death so that she can sell him as “meat” instead of as a pet. I wish I had a nickel for every time in
the last ten years someone has come up to me and told me how “horrified” and “shocked” they were
when they saw that “poor little cute bunny” bonked on the head. The scene, they say, made them
physically sick. Some had to turn away or leave the theater. […]
But less than two minutes after the bunny lady does her deed, I included footage of a scene in which
the police in Flint opened fire and shot a black man who was wearing a Superman cape and holding
a plastic toy gun. Not once – not ever – has anyone said to me, “I can’t believe you showed a black
man being shot in your movie! How horrible! How disgusting! I couldn’t sleep for weeks.” After
all, he was just a black man, not a cute, cuddly bunny. There is no outrage at showing a black man
being shot on camera […].
Why? Because a black man being shot is no longer shocking. Just the opposite – it’s normal, natural.
We’ve become so accustomed to seeing black men killed – in the movies and on the evening news –
that we now accept it as standard operating procedure. No big deal, just another dead black guy!
That’s what blacks do – kill and die. […]
It’s odd that, despite the fact that most crimes are committed by whites, black faces are usually
attached to what we think of as “crime”. Ask any white person who they fear might break into their
home or harm them on the street, and if they’re honest, they’ll admit that the person they have in
83 RAAbits Englisch Mai 2015
„Black Lives Matter!” (Klasse 9–11)
Einzelmaterial 202
S 11
B. Understanding the text
1. Decide whether the statements about the text are true (T) or false (F). Correct the false
statement(s) in your exercise books.
Statement
T
F
a) Benjamin Watson has mixed feelings about the Ferguson decision.
b) He knows African American people have been treated badly for a long
time.
c) He says that movies and music help young men to avoid conflicts with
the police.
d) Watson agrees with the behaviour of violent demonstrators after the
events in Ferguson.
e) He is sad that the Ferguson shooting had many bad consequences.
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f) Benjamin Watson is sure his children will have a better life.
g) He is optimistic that the situation will improve.
2. In pairs, write a summary of the text (max. 4 sentences).
1.
2.
3.
4.
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C. Studying the text
Get together with a partner and decide who of you will take which role.
Read your role cards and the Facebook post and take notes to prepare for the interview.
Practise the interview and be prepared to present it in front of the class.
Play the interview with Benjamin Watson.
A
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© Thinkstock/Photodisc
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Prepare an interview with Benjamin Watson.
Sara Lakeford – talk show host
Benjamin Watson – talk show
guest
You are the host of the weekly American
talk show Lakeford at Eight. You’d like
to find out more about the reasons
for Benjamin Watson’s reaction to the
events in Ferguson. Write down a list of
questions you’d like to ask him.
You are Benjamin Watson, the author
of the Facebook post. Sara Lakeford’s
producer has invited you to the talk
show Lakeford at Eight. Ms Lakeford
would like to talk about the reasons for
your reaction to the events in Ferguson.
Write down answers to possible
questions and take notes on what you
would like to talk about.
83 RAAbits Englisch Mai 2015
„Black Lives Matter!” (Klasse 9–11)
Einzelmaterial 202
S 13
Kompetenzen
Analysieren authentischer Texte
das Thema „Racial discrimination“ in den USA anhand literarischer Beispiele verstehen
und diskutieren
V
den Wortschatz in den Bereichen segregation und racial discrimination wiederholen
und vertiefen
die interkulturelle Kompetenz erweitern
Niveau
Klasse 9–11
Dauer
3–8 Unterrichtsstunden (je nach Auswahl des Materials)
Einbettung
Die Einheit kann unabhängig vom Lehrwerk eingesetzt werden. Inhaltlich ist eine
Anknüpfung an die Themen „Ethnic minorities“, „Human rights“ oder auch an
Landeskundeeinheiten zu den „USA“ möglich.
Hinweise
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Im August 2014 wurde der unbewaffnete afroamerikanische Teenager Michael Brown
von dem weißen Polizisten Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri erschossen. Wilson
wurde nicht angeklagt. Der Vorfall führte zu Protesten und Unruhen, die nicht nur
Ferguson, einen kleinen Vorort von St. Louis, sondern ganz Amerika erschütterten.
Öffentlich wurde über rassistisch motivierte Polizeigewalt und Rassismus gegenüber
Afroamerikanern im Allgemeinen diskutiert. Die Bürgerrechtsbewegung führte in den
USA zwar zu sozioökonomischen Reformen wie etwa dem Equal Rights Amendment
(1971), doch obwohl die Rassentrennung offiziell abgeschafft wurde, sind Afroamerikaner
häufig immer noch Zielscheibe für Vorurteile, Diskriminierung und Rassismus. So ist
die Gesellschaftsgruppe beispielsweise doppelt so häufig von Arbeitslosigkeit und
Armut betroffen wie weiße Amerikaner1. Die vorliegende Unterrichtseinheit verhilft
den Schülerinnen und Schülern2 zu mehr Wissen über racial discrimination in der
amerikanischen Gesellschaft.
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Zum Einsatz der Materialien
Die Texte werden mit einer pre-reading task (A. Approaching the text) eingeleitet, die den
Text vorentlastet oder eine Erwartungshaltung aufbaut. Die Textverständnisaufgaben
(B. Understanding the text) sind so konzipiert, dass sie eher das Verstehen unterstützen,
als es zu überprüfen. Die Analyseaufgaben (C. Studying the text) sind dem Lernstand
der Schüler angemessen.
Der einleitende Kurztext (M 1) über die Tötung Michael Browns und das Foto bauen
eine emotionale Beteiligung bei den Lernenden auf. Sie lesen den Text, notieren, welche
Aspekte des Vorfalls sie besonders tragisch finden, und tauschen sich darüber mit ihrem
Partner aus (task 1 und task 2). Das Foto zeigt einen Demonstranten in Kalifornien, der
mit Tausenden auf der Straße gegen die Entscheidung der Grand Jury, den Polizisten
Darren Wilson nicht anzuklagen, protestiert. Die Schüler versetzen sich in die Lage des
Mannes und schildern die Situation aus seiner Perspektive (task 3). Sie fassen das
Gelernte in einem kurzen Bericht zusammen (task 4).
1 Bureau of Labor Statistics: “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey”.
www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat03.htm (abgerufen am 21.4.2015).
2 Im weiteren Verlauf wird aus Gründen der besseren Lesbarkeit nur noch „Schüler“ verwendet.
83 RAAbits Englisch Mai 2015